Mayor Mitch Landrieu tapped Lt. Michael Harrison, a low-profile commander who carries little baggage in a department filled with controversy, to take over the New Orleans Police Department. Harrison faces a daunting task as the department struggles to comply with a federal consent decree and address the city's pressing crime needs amid short-staffing and low morale.

Harrison, a 23-year police veteran, rose through the ranks without making waves. While Landrieu said he would seek input on what the community wants in a chief, Landrieu suggested that the job could be Harrison's to lose.

"He will absolutely be given consideration," Landrieu said at a news conference. "I would say that possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Harrison pledged to continue the mayor's fight to reduce the rate of the city's murders and other violent crimes. "I want to thank Mayor Landrieu again for his confidence in me," he told reporters at a news conference. "New Orleans is the best place in the world and I pledge to lead the New Orleans Police Department with integrity, accountability and the highest standards of service."

As the commander over the NOPD's 7th District in eastern New Orleans since 2012, Harrison has had to confront the department's biggest problem: understaffing. Despite being NOPD's largest geographical district, it has roughly the same number of patrol officers, causing 911 calls to languish longer than those in all other districts. In 2012, calls were held for an average of 7.2 minutes for the highest priority calls, and for nearly an hour for all other calls, before an officer was available to respond.

"When somebody's getting robbed or whatnot, the response rate has been really slow," said Minh Thanh Nguyen, executive director of VAYLA, a community group based in the Michoud area of eastern New Orleans. "We're talking about, it's up to like, 10 hours of wait time."

Despite those challenges, Harrison listened to the community's concerns, Nguyen said. He added the commander told a recent meeting of 100 residents that he would seek to address their complaints about slow response times, rising home break-ins and a lack of Vietnamese and Spanish-language services.

As commander of the 7th, Harrison also helped develop and testified in support of legislation that enables officers to crack down on suspected prostitutes, an issue that plagues neighborhoods in eastern New Orleans. The new law makes it illegal for people to ask for money or rides with the intent to provide sex acts in exchange.

The mayor praised Harrison's "strong, community-focused leadership" in eastern New Orleans. Landrieu also touted Harrison's near decade of experience as a supervisor in the department's internal Public Integrity Bureau, from 2000 through 2009.

Harrison, 45, has progressed quickly up the chain of command. He joined the NOPD in 1991, after a career as a munitions specialist sergeant with the Louisiana Air National Guard, which followed his 1987 graduation from McDonough 35 High School. He became a detective in the citywide narcotics unit in 1995, then a sergeant in the 8th District, before joining the Public Integrity Bureau in 2000.

He attained a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Pheonix in New Orleans in 2006, and a master's degree in criminal justice from Loyola University in 2008.

Serpas' confidence in Harrison was clear in March 2011, when he was one of 16 high-ranking officers Serpas named as commanders, an at-will designation that carried more responsibilities and included a pay raise.

For the interim chief job, Harrison leap-frogged over four deputy chiefs. The deputy chiefs technically outrank him, but only one is a sworn officer: Darryl Albert. Albert's brother who is also on the force, Officer Marcel Albert, was recently charged with felony domestic abuse battery.

Harrison's career, while relatively quiet, has not been spotless.

He was suspended without pay for a day in July 2011, after internal investigators found he improperly disposed of police uniforms with the NOPD patches still attached, violating rules aimed at guarding against officer impersonation, according to previously published reports.

Harrison was also one of three internal-affairs officers named in a civil lawsuit by former NOPD Sgt. Ronald Ruiz, who alleged the trio pulled him over in late 2010 in Jefferson Parish and forced him to resign on the spot. Ruiz was under investigation after testifying that he initially lied to the FBI about his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Henry Glover's death, according to previous reports.

Glover was killed by police after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and his body was left burned in a car on the Algiers levee. Of the three officer convictions in the case, only one still stands.

A lawsuit is still pending in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

A spokeswoman for the city's Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson emphasized the importance of a reform-minded police chief.

"Although Commander Harrison's a very skilled officer, shepherding the department through a consent decree is a very narrow skill set," said Ursula Price, adding that she could not comment on whether Harrison -- or Serpas -- has the technology, leadership and other skills needed to bring cultural change to a long-troubled organization. She said she wanted to make sure the City Council asked the right questions of candidates, considering "what's at stake -- a lot of money and time has been invested."

But at least one City Council member said he didn't want to get too involved in Landrieu's selection process.

"I would tend to let the mayor make his selection because if the selection doesn't perform well, I want to reserve the right to complain," Councilman James Gray said.